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Turkey detains more judges and military officers

Legislators in the 550-member parliament on Thursday voted 356-115 to approve a three-month state of emergency across Turkey.

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed an extradition request for Gulen.

Turkey has requested Mr. Gulen’s extradition from the United States.

Turkey’s National Security Council is holding an emergency meeting following a coup attempt last week that was derailed by security forces and protesters loyal to the government.

In 2002, Turkey lifted its last state of emergency, which had been imposed in southeastern provinces for the fight against Kurdish militants in 1987. “Nearly 60,000 soldiers, police officers, judges and civil servants have been suspended and detained across the country since last weekend, and about 1,000 members of the military have been accused of connections to the attempted coup”, the New York Times reports.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP, slammed the state of emergency move as going too far. Earlier in the same evening, the alliance said, “we condemn any military intervention in (the) domestic politics of Turkey”.

In comments quoted by NTV, Kurtulmus also said Turkey’s state of emergency could end within one to one and a half months.

He said the government will go after “rogue” elements within the state as he warned there could have been “carnage in the streets” had the coup succeeded. “And we will never make” them. “We will have a legal framework for it”.

The human rights organisation Amnesty International has described the authorities’ actions as “a crackdown of exceptional proportions”.

“There will be no curfews”. “There are no restrictions to personal travel”, said a senior Turkish official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with government protocol.

Turkish leaders are saying life will continue as normal for most people despite a state of emergency.

“This measure is in no way against democracy, the law and freedoms”, he said.

The military has long seen itself as the guardian of secularism in this mostly Muslim country and has staged a series of coups in past decades, but its power has been gradually diminished.

Turkey’s state-run Andalou news agency had previously quoted him telling Turkish authorities that he had “acted with intention to stage a coup”. It is unclear how many soldiers continued on with the attack.

In the latest in a series of dramatic clampdowns following Turkey’s failed coup on Friday, academics have been temporarily banned from leaving the country.

Mr Gulen has denied any involvement.

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“This practice is absolutely not against democracy, the rule of law and freedoms, quite on the contrary, it has the goal of strengthening and protecting these values”, he said.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim